WESTLECOT Ladies came out on top in a new county ladies competition held at North Wilts IBC in Chippenham, just prior to the Christmas festive period.

The tournament, a Top Club event, was organised by Wiltshire County Women’s Indoor Bowling Association (WCWIBA) president Fizz Mace (North Wilts) to compensate for a gap in the fixture list caused by Oxfordshire pulling out of their scheduled county friendly fixture.

The Top Club event was an entirely new idea which saw a team of nine ladies from Christie Miller, Westlecot and two teams of nine from North Wilts as Five Rivers, Salisbury, the only other WCWIBA affiliated club were unable to field a team, play three games of six ends.

Each side fielded a pairs, triples and rinks (fours) team and played six ends with one point awarded for each end won, two points for each discipline match won and one point for a drawn game.

The end scores were very similar in the round-robin tournament.

Westlecot took top spot with 41 points and declared the outright winners.

North Wilts B team second on 35 points closely followed by Christie Miller and North Wilts A tied for third spot on 34 points.

County ladies secretary Ann Roberts-Phare said: “In Julia Hunt’s vote of thanks there was loud applause when she requested the event became an annual slot in the calendar.

“And Fizz Mace thanked everyone for their help in getting this event off the ground in particular Westlecot county rep Julia Hunt and Christie Millers’ rep, Sheila Garlick who persuaded nine ladies each to take part in a brand new event.”

Roberts-Phare added: “Thirty-six ladies thoroughly enjoyed an afternoon of competitive bowling mixed with a chance to socialise with other Wiltshire bowlers. “As a first run the games ran very smoothly and everyone went home happy.”